


The Missing Ingredient

by ForeverShippingJohnlock



Series: Fellowship of Literacy Prompts [9]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Doubt, Gen, Regret, Self-Doubt, Weddings, hints of Sebaciel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 15:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14622033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverShippingJohnlock/pseuds/ForeverShippingJohnlock
Summary: The long-awaited wedding between Ciel and Elizabeth has arrived, bringing happiness and joy to everyone except the young Earl himself. Plagued by doubts as he plays the role of dutiful groom, Ciel reflects on a future that can never truly be.





	The Missing Ingredient

**Author's Note:**

> Finally back with another Fellowship prompt! I took a hiatus for a while due to me being on vacation, so it was nice to get back in the habit again :) For this prompt, we had to write a character's experience with food and this little ficlet is what came to me! I hope you enjoy <3

Elizabeth’s hand was warm where it lay on top of Ciel’s. Her fingers were long and delicate, her nails painted in an elegant French manicure. She held her husband’s hand with a real unabashed affection that a part of Ciel wishes he could return. In one swift motion, their joint hands came down and easily sliced the knife through the bottom layer of their wedding cake.

The cake was exquisite. Four tiers covered in smooth white fondant, decorated all around by eloquent piping and the strategic placement of pale pink sugar roses. It was understated and beautiful; when Ciel had placed Elizabeth in charge of all things aesthetic – weddings were a woman’s game, after all – he had half expected the bright colours and gaudy decorations that she’d been known for during their childhood. But, as he looked around his manor, he had to admit that he had underestimated her, and not for the first time. His new bride had come a long way since their youth – now eighteen, she had blossomed from an excitable girl into a proper lady.

Their audience cheered as they picked up small pieces of the cake and each brought it to the other’s lips. Elizabeth giggled prettily as she wiped an errant spot of icing from her face. Ciel forced himself to smile as he chewed his own bite. It was perfectly adequate, there was no doubt about that, but after tasting Sebastian’s baking for so many years, Ciel had developed a refined palate where sweets were concerned. The vanilla of the cake melted on his tongue, and paired well with the slight almond flavour of the icing. But, it was missing something. In that moment, the cake in front of them felt all too much like their sham of a wedding: picture perfect on the outside, but lacking a certain substance.

Ciel looked at Elizabeth, then. Her white gown trailed behind her and formed to fit her becomingly in all the right ways. Her shoulders were hugged by delicate lace that swept down to meet the bodice. Her hair was worn mostly loose, with only a few of her blonde ringlets pinned back to frame her face. The toes of white flats poked out from beneath her skirts, and Ciel felt a small swell of appreciation. Although Ciel had finally hit his growth spurt in his sixteenth year, Elizabeth had always been a tall girl and the two now stood side-by-side fairly even in height. If Elizabeth had worn heels, Ciel would have been at a disadvantage and Elizabeth was too selfless to do anything that might make him look foolish just for a fashion statement.

Now that the initial cut had been made, the servants began to dole out pieces to their innumerable guests. Ciel and Elizabeth resumed their seats at the head table, a piece in front of each of them. Ciel stared at the cake, regarding the pristine white of it. His gaze lifted and was immediately met by Sebastian, who was standing off to the side, overseeing that his master’s wedding day ran as smoothly as befit the name of Phantomhive. They regarded each other for a moment, gazes heated and intense with possession, and suddenly that missing piece slid all too easily into place.

He had settled for vanilla, simple and pure, when what he truly desired was chocolate in all its dark and forbidden temptation.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :D


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